


The Pine Bluff Variant

by scullywolf



Series: TXF: Scenes in Between [115]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, MSR, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-05-05 15:05:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5379674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scullywolf/pseuds/scullywolf





	The Pine Bluff Variant

_“They still need something from me, though, and I’m sensing there’s someone Haley trusts even less. The man giving him his orders, someone I haven’t met yet. A guy named August Bremer.”_

The ice pack on top of his hand made her cool fingers on his palm feel warm by comparison. He didn’t want to admit what a relief it was to have her here, to be able to stop lying to her. It was selfish, this relief, because her knowledge of his actions and assignment put her at risk. If Mulder’s duplicity were exposed, Haley and his men wouldn’t hesitate to hunt Scully down and try to take her out as well.

He _had_ told Skinner, though, that she would figure it out eventually. She was too damned good at her job not to, knew him too well.

Her voice jarred him from his thoughts. “Right, the, uh, the ‘mastermind’ Skinner mentioned in the briefing.”

“That’s the one,” he said, wincing as she adjusted the ice again. “Three hours in the car, Scully, I’m not sure how much that’s gonna help at this point.”

“It’ll help a little. Enough to get a splint on.”

He gave a halfhearted shrug and rubbed his free hand across his face. He needed to get back to the office, probably should have gone straight there but had (rather stupidly) thought maybe he could grab an hour’s nap beforehand. The long day and the pain, driving home with a broken finger, were catching up to him.

“Here, Mulder, you hold this on there. I’m going to get the first aid kit out of my car.”

“Check the kit under my bathroom sink. I think there’s a splint in there.” 

He put his hand over hers, fingers brushing as she gently pulled away before standing up. He set his hands in his lap and leaned back on the couch, closing his eyes. Tired as he was, the ache in his hand probably would have kept him from falling asleep anyway, he realized with chagrin. So, fine. He would let Scully fix him up and then call Skinner, go meet him at the office and report on what he’d found out.

Scully returned and sat back down on the coffee table across from him, setting the finger splint down and pulling strips off a roll of medical tape and sticking them to the table in preparation. Leaning forward, she reached for his injured hand. He held it out toward her, and she cradled it gently for a moment, examining. Then, she looked up at him.

“Okay. This part’s going to hurt.”

Pain shot up his arm when she pulled to straighten and set his finger, and he gasped. “If you’re being rough because I lied to you, it wasn’t my call.”

“I’m sorry, Mulder. Almost done.” She slid the splint into place and started to wrap the strips of tape around to secure it. “I know it wasn’t your call. It _was_ awful, though, questioning your motives, wondering why you would deny helping Haley get away, even after I showed you the surveillance tape.”

What did she want him to say? She knew why he’d done it, that he’d been under orders.

“Do you know the worst part, though?” she continued, softly. “The worst part was knowing that I would lie for you, without question, regardless of what I’d seen, what I’d suspected.”

Funny. From his perspective, that was the only _good_ thing about the whole screwed-up situation, knowing she had his back no matter how many reasons he gave her not to. “Maybe deep down you realized that I had to have a damned good reason for behaving so out of character.”

“Maybe. I don’t know, Mulder. There was some part of me that did wonder if you were capable of it, of siding with Haley.” 

His behavior had been necessarily shady, sure, but her admission still stung. “What possible reason could I have for sympathizing with a terrorist?”

She sighed. “The same reason he sought you out, the reason he apparently thought you could be an ally. I don’t know. I’m not proud of it.” The sharp pain settled into a steady throb as she wrapped the last piece of tape around the splint and sat up straight. “I followed you tonight, you know.”

“You did? Out to Delaware?”

Scully nodded. “Mm-hmm, to the hotel, and then I tried to follow again after you got in the car with Haley’s men, but the CIA ran me off the road.”

Mulder shook his head. “I’ll bet they did. Let’s just say the boys in black are very invested in taking out the New Spartans. You busting in on us would have put a definite crimp in those plans. You weren’t hurt, were you?”

“No. Just pissed off and confused. I still can’t believe Skinner-- I wouldn’t have been out there in the first place if I had been kept in the loop from the start. And I cannot believe they’re willing to put you at such risk.”

“Maybe you haven’t noticed, but our government takes fighting terrorists very, very seriously.” He chuckled humorlessly. “They’re willing to risk a lot more than just me.”

“Well, it isn’t right.” She stood, picking up the ice pack and the tape and walking out of the room again. He let his eyes drift closed once more, trying to summon the energy to get up, get moving. She came back carrying a glass of water, which she handed to him, along with four Advil. “These will help with the swelling.”

He took the pills and drained the glass, then set it on the table and stood, groaning. “I need to call Skinner.”

“Now? Mulder, it’s 2:30 in the morning.”

“I need to tell him what I learned tonight. What Haley wants from me.”

“And what is that?”

He paused with the phone in his hand. “Scully, if I promise to tell you everything when this is all over, can you leave it alone for now?”

“Not a chance.” Her hands were on her hips, and she was staring coolly at him, and he just didn’t have the energy to fight her. He sighed.

“He wants fund transfer schedules from the Federal Reserve. He wouldn’t say why, but I think we can both probably guess.”

“They’re going to rob an armored car? That doesn’t even--”

“Make sense? I know. This is almost certainly just another test, to see how far I’m willing to go for him, for his cause. But until I can gain his trust enough for him to clue me in on his end game, I have to play along.”

“I don’t like it,” she said, scowling.

“Believe me, I don’t like it either. I like it even less knowing that if Haley decides I’m setting him up, he won’t just stop at killing me, he’ll almost certainly come after you, too. And we’ve seen what he’s capable of, how dangerous this bioweapon is. We need to figure out if there’s an antidote or a way to counteract it. Something. I’m counting on you for that part.”

She nodded. “I’m already planning to follow up with the bio lab first thing in the morning. Hopefully they’ll have some answers for us.”

“I hope so, too. Okay, I’ve got to call Skinner. Thanks for… you know.” He waved his hand with the splint toward her.

Nodding again, she turned to leave. “Good luck, Mulder.”

“Thanks,” he muttered under his breath as he dialed. “I’m gonna need it.”


End file.
